Luke and Lorelai Season 8
by StarsHollow4ever
Summary: After the kiss ... my theory on what the writers had in store for us if there'd be another season of GGs. **UPDATED with Bonus Special, with a little something extra for Literati fans**
1. Sookie's Got Cookies

**** Luke and Lorelai – Season 8 ****

**Genre**: Drama  
**Pairings**: Lorelai/Luke  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Lorelai, Luke, April and Paul Anka__ and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended._

**So imagine there was another season of Gilmore Girls, we would have all eagerly tuned in to see what happened after Luke and Lorelai's kiss. Would the writers have given us what we wanted or left us dangling on the proverbial silly string?

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Lorelai felt absolutely empty.

Rory had been out on the Obama campaign trail for over two months and while she and Luke had exchanged a passionate kiss at the farewell party he'd thrown for Rory, his old habits had crept in and they were back to their coy game of relational wait and see.

Slowly, she began to realize that she'd arrived at another dead end with Luke. All those years of shameless flirting, that had finally led to the stirrings of a relationship were for naught.

She stared at herself in the mirror and frowned. Signs of aging were creeping in. She spotted the beginnings of crows feet around her eyes and her first gray hair. Depressed at first, these geriatric signals were like a wakeup call, especially when she realized that Rory was probably gone for good and that, for the first time in her life, she was truly all alone.

She went into the living room and grabbed the latest issue of Cosmo from the coffee table and Paul Anka jumped up on the couch and nestled his shaggy head onto her lap. She tried to read an article about Kate Hudson, but the loneliness crept back in and she threw the magazine aside, petting Paul Anka, grateful for his company. He let out a little canine whimper and stared into her eyes. He could always tell when Lorelai was feeling down.

She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a Sookie Cookie. Sookie had recently come up with the idea to start marketing her own line of cookies and she was starting out by selling little tins of them at the inn's gift shop and using Lorelai and Michel as her taste testers to perfect her line of flavors. Sookie's cookies always made her feel better, at least for a while. This one, a key lime sugar cookie, was particularly good she noted as she bit into the mouthwatering treat.

The phone rang and Lorelai joyously went to retrieve it, glad to have the chance to hear the sound of another human voice, just as long as it wasn't Emily.

"Hello?"

"Hi Lorelai, it's Luke, I have something I need to talk you about, do you mind if I come over?"

"Well, uh – okay!" Lorelai stammered. Why was Luke trying to pull her in again? She knew it was going to lead to nowhere as she hung up the phone.

About fifteen minutes later, Paul Anka ran to the door, barking and barking, to herald Luke's arrival.

As Lorelai opened the door, she was stunned to see Luke standing there with a bouquet of yellow daisies and April standing there next to him.

"Go ahead, Dad," April urged him.

"Sweetheart, just a moment, let's wait until Lorelai asks us in."

"Oh, sure," Lorelai interjected as she ushered them in.

As Luke and Lorelai took their places on the couch, April proceeded to take over the room.

"I told my dad I didn't like him being alone and when he admitted he didn't marry you because of me, I told him he was being a butt head and insisted we get over here immediately. Lorelai will you please just marry my father and get this over with? I don't want him to be a lonely, eighty year old bachelor blaming me for his predicament in his old age."

"Honey, that's sweet," Lorelai responded, "a bit overwhelming and unexpected, but sweet. Why don't I put on a pot of coffee and get us some Sookie Cookies and we can talk about this a little bit more. Luke, you want to help me in the kitchen? April, you're welcome to stay out here and play with Paul Anka and your father and I will join you in a minute."

"Sookie cookies?"

"Oh yeah, Sookie Cookies, they're the best, hon. One bite and you'll see."

"Well, Luke, that was definitely a Hallmark moment," Lorelai commented as she started preparing the coffee.

Luke stood there and beamed at Lorelai waiting for yet another quick, but loving quip to fall from her lips, proud that his daughter, his flesh and blood, possessed tenacity and maturity beyond her years, unfortunately he was shockingly disappointed.

"Luke, I can't marry you just because I meet the 'April stamp of approval.' I'm glad she's smart enough to know what you did was very stupid, but now you bringing her over here and having her propose to me on your behalf, makes your proposal seem conditional."

"What are you talking about?" Luke responded, giving her his famous baffled expression.

"I mean that if we had started getting serious again and she had decided she didn't want us to be together, you probably wouldn't have given marriage a second thought. No Luke, I think you thought you were doing a good thing, coming over to propose to me to please April, but you got it all wrong, babe. Your first reason for asking me to marry you should have been to please me and you've put me in the uncomfortable position of breaking that little girl's heart."

"Don't worry, we'll just leave."

"Well, here," she replied giving him a tin of the sugar lime cookies,"take these with you; she won't be sad for long as soon as she's had a few of these."

After she heard the door close, she wandered back into the living room with cup of coffee in hand and settled back onto the sofa and started reading her Kate Hudson article again. About half way through the article, her mind started wandering. For some strange reason, she was having thoughts about Rory turning down Logan's proposal. At the time she had been fiercely proud that Rory had chosen the path of independence, she was, after all, a Gilmore girl. But now she thought about the consequences, had Rory chosen to accept Logan's proposal she would have been amply provided for and assured of all the comforts she wanted for the rest of her life. Instead, she would now have to endure several years of struggling that could have been avoided had she decided to become Mrs. Huntzberger.

Lorelai tried to stop herself from having these thoughts, it went against her very grain to depend on a man, but she herself was growing weary of her own endless struggles. Why couldn't she finally have someone well-to-do to help take care of her? She had paid her dues many times over, leaving home at 17 and raising a baby on her own, starting her own business, and making sure she did what it took for daughter to get a world class education.

She went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, plucking the gray hair from her head and contemplated making a botox appointment to rid herself of her crows feet and also calling her mother in the morning to put out feelers with the DAR ladies for anyone who had a rich, eligible son. Sure, she knew it would subject her to her mother's "See I told you so" smugness, but at the same time, she also knew that if Rory came to her with a similar request and she had the means to help her that she would.

As she settled into bed for the night, Paul Anka ran upstairs and plopped himself on the bed to join her, wagging his tail. He could always tell when Lorelai was happy.


	2. Mama Needs a Sugar Daddy

_So this is episode 2 of "Season 8"of the Gilmore Girls. The good news is that fans got a few more episodes to see if Lorelai and Luke finally get together, the bad news is that the writers love to string us along. Will they finally get together in this episode? Read on to see…._

**Thanks to GilmoreGirl 19, Jeremy Shane, CoffeeBeaner and Chloe2007 for asking me to continue (this was originally just going to be a one-shot).**

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The next evening Lorelai made her usual Friday night trip to the Gilmore mansion.

The latest maid greeted Lorelai at the door and took her wrap, announcing her arrival to Emily.

"Hello, Lorelai," Emily greeted.

"Hey, Mom! Where's Dad?"

"Traveling," Emily beamed, grinning from ear to ear.

"Well – I'm surprised to see you so happy about him not being here."

"Oh, I'm not happy about that. I'm never happy about that."

"Well, what then?"

"Your father finally shaved off that hideous mustache," Emily chirped delightedly as she poured them each a martini. "I am so glad to know that my husband is no longer competing in a Geraldo Rivera look-a-like contest and that he's back to being the elegant gentleman I married."

"Dinner is ready, Mrs. Gilmore!" the maid announced.

"What time is it, Brunhilda?"

"Six forty five," the maid replied in a heavy German accent.

"I have told you, repeatedly, I expect dinner to be on the table at exactly seven o'clock. Not a minute more, not a minute less and certainly not fifteen minutes early," Emily scolded.

"Wow, you better watch out, Mom, or you're liable to wind up bunking in Stalag 13," Lorelai joked. She was actually glad Emily had gotten a chance to bite the maid's head off, it would only increase the level of happiness she was already feeling about Richard shaving off his mustache and help to grease the skids she needed greased to ask her mom about helping her land a rich, eligible man.

"What's a Sta…wag 30?" Emily asked, already slurring her words. This was going to be a piece of cake – or so Lorelai thought. "Oh, I know what you're talking about now –" Emily laughed. "It's from that show, 'Logan's Heroes'!"

"Well, actually, Mom, the show was called 'Hogan's Heroes', _Logan_ was the very rich boy who proposed to Rory and she turned him down."

"Oh, don't remind me," Emily spat in disgust, suddenly sobering up, "a Gilmore turning down a proposal from a Huntzberger – it's unheard of. I'm afraid Rory has the mistaken notion that she can find another man every time she turns a new corner. She's going to find out that it's not going to be that easy since she's left college now."

"Speaking of turning a new corner, Mom… I've decided I'm on a mission to find my own Huntzberger and that's where you come in."

"How?" Emily asked suspiciously.

"Well, I'd like to meet a rich fella, too. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I was able to make it in this world without a man's help, but now I'm exhausted and I'd like to be able to feel a little more secure by marrying a successful man. Didn't you always used to tell me it easier for a Gilmore girl to marry a rich man than a poor man? Aren't there any ladies in the DAR trying to shop around for wives for their eligible sons?"

"Lorelai, there hasn't been a man born who you considerer good enough to be your husband. You always manage to find fault with them and you run away. There was that nice gentleman I set you up from the DAR auction and you thought he was too boring, you were going to marry Rory's teacher from Chilton and for some unknown reason that didn't work out and then you _finally_ married Christopher and that marriage lasted for about ten minutes. Even if I did want to agree to help you find someone from the DAR pool, it'd be very difficult. You're almost forty and the few single men left who are your age are looking for twenty or early thirty somethings and can get them because they are rich. You should have come to me with this request much sooner. Why don't you just settle on that fellow from the diner?"

"His name is Luke, Mom, you know that and I can't be with him because he's –"

"Oh, please spare me your list of Luke's faults. I'm sure, according to you, he has many, but the man has tolerated your flightiness for many years so he seems to have at least one good quality," Emily responded as they marched into the dining room.

Lorelai stabbed at her dinner in silence. How typical it was for Emily to find a way to take the wind out of her sails. Telling her to be with Luke! If she hadn't wasted so much time waiting for him to get his nerve up to make a move, maybe her youth wouldn't have been sacrificed. Suddenly, she remembered she'd forgotten to make an appointment for her botox injections. She decided to have some fun at her mother's expense and entered a reminder note in her Blackberry.

"Lorelai, it's very rude to be typing away in that electronic gadget while I'm trying to discuss Bitty Charlton's winter dance ball. What's so important now that you need to interrupt our conversation by ignoring me and carrying on your business at the dinner table?"

"I'm making a to-do-list: get Red Vines for tonight's movie, pick-up dog food for Paul Anka and schedule a botox appointment."

"Honestly, Lorelai, I don't know which is worse – naming your dog after Paul Anka or wanting to get your face injected full of botulism. Just make sure you don't get the procedure done in Hartford. I don't want any of my friends knowing about it."

"Ooh! You know who I think probably had botox because she still looks so pretty? Pennilyn Lott!"

"Go, Lorelai!"Emily shouted, and pointed sternly towards the front door.

Lorelai gave one of her cutesy Scarlett O'Hara smiles and bolted towards her car. She was happy she'd gotten her mother back for telling her she was too old to get a suitor from the DAR and was glad to be out of the Gilmore mansion.

When she got home she ran to the mail box and retrieved the Net Flix envelope for her Friday night movie. She'd ordered "Willy Wonka" and was looking forward to spending the evening with the Oompa Loompas as she eagerly tore open the red envelope only to discover to her major disappointment that they'd sent "Sleeping With the Enemy" by mistake. She flung the movie aside and turned the TV on and could find nothing worth watching so she reluctantly popped in the movie. She had never seen "Sleeping With the Enemy,"for some reason it had never made it to the list of mockability movies that she and Rory loved to watch and rip apart, though she wondered why since Julia Roberts was so mockable.

"Whuh!" Lorelai shuddered as sat and watched Julia's character being abused by her husband. _That rich bastard thinks he owns her_, she observed astutely, thinking, perhaps, that a rich man may not be the answer to her problems, after all.

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_A/N: By the way, the network really had to push the cast to come back for Season 8, so if they don't get any reviews for episode 2, they're pulling the plug on the show now so please let us know if you'd like the show to continue._


	3. Ancient Antiques

We're back for Episode 3 of "Season 8" of the Gilmore Girls.

**_Thanks to: LoveLoganForever101, Jeremy Shane, Coffeebeanner, Itzcheeseball, and Gilmoregirl19 for requesting the show continue._**

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The next morning Lorelai and Sookie drove to Litchfield to go antique shopping for the Dragonfly Inn.

"Ooh! Lookie! They're advertising an Autumn Harvest Breakfast at that cute little hilltop diner, Lorelai, let's pull in there," Sookie gurgled excitedly.

"That's convenient since the name of the diner _is_ the 'Hilltop Diner', Lorelai quipped, "I guess they forgot to add 'That Cute Little' to the title," she commented as she pulled into the parking lot.

"I bet they're going to have things like apple pancakes and pumpkin waffles and maple coffee cake. I can't wait to see the menu – Look, Lorelai!" Sookie said, stopping in her tracks suddenly. "Isn't that Jason?" she asked in a loud whisper as they walked into the restaurant.

"Yikes! I didn't expect that," Lorelai huffed.

"You wanta leave?" Sookie whispered.

"Lorelai! Sookie!" Jason called out cheerfully from the other side of the diner.

"Too late now," Lorelai muttered under her breath."

"Jason," Lorelai stammered, "didn't expect to see you here. Are you living in Litchfield now?"

"Yes. My wife's from Litchfield and I moved here about three years ago. Why don't you ladies join me? I just got here myself and I haven't even ordered yet."

"Okay! We're here to try out the Autumn Harvest Breakfast, maybe you can give us some suggestions."

"Well, they have some good items on the menu, but I had no idea people in Stars Hollow would know about it."

"Sookie and I are actually here in town to do some antiquing for the inn. We were getting a little tired of Mrs. Kim's 'You Break, You Buy' policy and we thought we'd come to Litchfield and see if we could get away with busting up some antiques for free."

"I have just the place for you," he replied, smiling.

"You do?" Sookie asked excitedly, finally joining in on the conversation.

"Yeah, my wife and I own an antique store here in town. Here's our card, it's called "Ancient Antiques."

"It's repetitive and redundant! I like it. It's repetitive and redundant. I like it!" Lorelai chirped happily, wishing Rory was with her to chime in on their old Mac and Tosh routine.

"Ah, _that's_ the Lorelai Gilmore I knew, the world makes sense again. Actually, as inane as the name sounds, there is a method to our madness, we specialize in ancient Roman, Greek and Middle Eastern relics, but we also carry a line of colonial period and Early American pieces you might want to look at for your inn."

"Well, okay, I'm stuffed from these cranberry, walnut, pumpkin pancakes and I guess Sookie and I really should get going because her baby sitter's expecting us back at three o'clock."

"Oh, that reminds me," Jason said as he reached into his wallet, "here's a picture of my son, Jason, Jr., He just turned six months old yesterday."

"He's adorable, Jason. Congratulations! I'm glad to see everything turned out so well for you since Floyd and my father…"

"Honestly, don't even give it a second thought. Those two old country club geezers did me a favor when they put me out of the insurance business. You couldn't pay me to trade my life with them for all the Rolexes and Rolls Royces in the world. My wife and I live a simple life and we're by far the richer for it."

"Well, good, you're happy and that's all any of us really want. Thanks for the card, we'll be sure to add it to our list of stores to tour today. Bye now!"

"Goodbye, it was nice seeing you both again."

"Bye, Jason," Sookie said as they left the diner.

"So are we really going to Jason's antique shop?" Sookie asked excitedly as they climbed back into the car.

"Not unless they stock gladiators in their stash of ancient Roman relics that we could buy and use to scare away my mother and Taylor when they come to visit the inn."

"Oh, come on, Lorelai," Sookie giggled "why don't you want to go there?"

"Because I _don't_ want to meet Jason's baby mama. Jason Jr. should have been _our_ baby, and Jason should have never been forced out of the business or forced to sue my father – which is why I had to end our relationship."

"I know," Sookie responded sympathetically.

"Jason and I had so much in common. He's the only man I've ever met whose brain speedometer could rev up to as many RPMs as mine. Plus, if he'd stayed in the business and we'd gotten married, we'd have been very wealthy by now."

"Whoa! I never thought I'd hear Lorelai Gilmore talking like that. Where is that coming from?" Sookie asked incredulously.

"I'm just being practical, Sookie. I know I used to mock my mother for talking about how important it to marry a rich man, but I'm concluding she's right as I've gotten older."

"Okay you're being practical. But why now? What exactly brought all this on now?"

"Sookie, I'm officially all alone now and I know you and most of Stars Hollow got excited when you saw me and Luke kissing at Rory's farewell party, but after that he just went back to dragging his feet and didn't make another major move until he got the April stamp of approval."

"The 'April Stamp of Approval'?"

"Yeah, he calls me the other night and asks me if he can come over. I told him ýes' and he shows up at the door with April and she proceeds to tell me that her father was a butt head for not eloping with me when I asked him to on her account and that we should get married."

"Smart girl, that April."

"Smart girl, dumb father."

"Come on, Lorelai, if Rory had talked to Luke the way April did and he'd realized he'd made a mistake, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And you're still dodging my question, why do you suddenly want a rich man?"

"Because I'm tired of chasing bogus Harlequin romance fairy tales, they don't exist and they waste your life. I want companionship, I want financial security, I want security period. I don't need to keep doing the Helen Reddy 'I am Woman, Hear Me Roar' bit. Let someone else be Elsa the Lioness for a change."

"Ït sounds like you're making excuses because you were hurt by April coming over and proposing on Luke's behalf. I personally think it's cute and sweet and at least you'd know you weren't getting a nasty brat for a stepdaughter, but I guess it might have made you feel like you were having to answer to a child. As for the rich man idea, I think you'd better give it some more thought. Didn't you see that movie 'Sleeping With the Enemy?' She thought she had it made because she had a rich husband and look what happened to her!"

"Yeah, well, how do we know they don't make movies like that to keep poor girls from marrying rich men?"

"You're too much, Lorelai! I'll see you on Sunday at the Oktoberfestival," Sookie replied laughingly as Lorelai dropped her off in front of her house.

"See ya then, hon."

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_A/N: The sponsors have requested readers reviews in order for Season 8 to continue. Please let us know if you'd like the show to go on. _


	4. Burnt Pop Tarts

_**The sponsors wish to thank **__**Jeremy Shane**__**, **__**Gilmoregirl19**__** and **__**LastWhiteRose**__**, for making it possible to bring you Episode 4 of Season 8 of the Gilmore Girls.**_

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Lorelai woke up earlier than usual on Sunday to do some work at home and to get ready for her weekly call from Rory.

She walked into the kitchen to make coffee and a pop tart. She made a note to herself, as she pulled the last cherry pop tart out of the box and popped it into the toaster, to pick up more from Doose's market later.

She went back upstairs to get her laptop and on the way back down, she suddenly heard the annoyingly piercing shrill of the smoke alarm. She rushed into the kitchen and found smoke rising from her toaster and an unappetizing pop tart inside, that now resembled a black brick. She retrieved the pop tart and threw it into the sink to douse with water and threw open the kitchen window to quiet down the smoke alarm.

Just then, the phone rang. _Rory! _Lorelai thought happily as she made a dash to the phone.

"Hey, you!" Lorelai greeted cheerfully.

"Hi, Mom, it's ca-ca **COLD** here," Rory replied, her teeth chattering, "like eating a Klondike bar inside an igloo at the North Pole cold. I think I just saw Santa Claus looking in my window and he was laughing at me."

"Where are you, Sweets?"

"Bangor, Maine."

"Ooh! Dirty!" Lorelai cooed playfully.

"That one was too easy. I guess I should have seen that one coming and just said Maine," Rory sighed, pretending to be annoyed.

"That's okay, hon, Mommy'll let it slide this time, but only because I know the cold is affecting your reflexes. Do you need me to call the hotel manager and yell at him?"

"That's okay, I already tried it and it didn't do any good. Luckily, we're leaving here today. I'm going to finish packing and then go wait in the coffee shop until it's time to go. So anything new in Stars Hollow?"

"Well, they're having the Stars Hollow Oktoberfestival today and I'm meeting Sookie and Jackson this afternoon and we're going to walk over there together. Mmm… what else? Oh, yeah, April proposed to me on Luke's behalf and I turned them down. I saw Jason yesterday when Sookie and I went antiquing in Litchfield and he's happily married and I'm _not_ so that didn't make me feel so great when I unexpectedly ran into him and I think that brings us up-to-date from our last call."

"Whoa! April proposed to you on Luke's behalf and you turned them down!? You didn't think you were going to get away with sneaking that tidbit into an 'Oktoberfestival, Jason happily ever after' sandwich and get away with me not asking about it, did you?"

"It's a long story, Sweets, and I don't want you turning into a Popsicle by staying in that ice box any longer than you have to. I'll tell you all about it when you come home this week."

"Oooh! I almost forgot! I have a surprise for you - I'm getting extra days off when I come home. The campaign rally in Hartford is on Friday and I don't have to leave until Monday so we get the whole weekend together."

"Yaaaaaaaaaay! I'll get the movies, the Red Vines and the Nutter Butters ready. Me and Paul Anka can't wait to see you. Can you help Mommy with a little problem before you hang up?"

"What is it?" Rory asked, smiling, already anticipating it was going to be an abnormal request.

"I'm hungry. I just burned my last pop tart and I now I'm craving chocolate chip pancakes, but I can't go to Luke's because he probably won't let me in the diner. What should I do?"

"Why don't you ask Babette to call in the order for you and when the delivery guy brings her the food, have her bring it over to you so Luke doesn't know you ordered it."

"That's brilliant sister-friend. I knew those four years at Yale were going to pay off. I'll see you Friday, I can't wait!"

"Me either! I'll be counting the days, hours and seconds. Love you, Mom!"

"Love you, too, angel, bye!

After she hung up, Lorelai walked over to Babette's house.

"Oh, sugah! You poor thing!" Babette bellowed out in her raspy voice as she greeted Lorelai at the door. "The whole town's talking about it!"

"_It?"_

"That's okay, sweetie, you don't have to pretend on my account. Everyone knows you turned down Luke's proposal. Kirk and Taylor started a pool and they're taking bets. Everyone gets to guess when you're going to change your mind and actually accept his proposal. The person who guesses it to the closet date gets to keep the pot."

"Oh, can I play, too?" Lorelai asked mischievously.

"Nah, sugah, that'd be cheatin'. Come in! Come in! I put on a pot of water to make some tea. I'll go make us a cup and be right back," Babette announced as she disappeared for the kitchen.

Babette's cat, Apricot, jumped on Lorelai's lap and stared at her plaintively with her big cat eyes, like she always did when Lorelai came to visit, as if she was trying to beg her to rescue her from her nutty owner.

"I'm sorry, Apricot, it's the chance you took when you chose to be born in Stars Hollow, the odds were not with you," Lorelai murmured as the cat twitched its tail in despair.

"Here we are!" Babette announced cheerfully as she reappeared and handed Lorelai a cup of tea.

"Babette, how does the whole town know I turned down Luke's proposal? Is he running his mouth at the diner?"

"Nah, sugah, but the kid's in there giving it up to anyone who's willing to listen, which you know in Stars Hollow, means everyone."

"Oh, well … that should make this year's Oktoberfestival experience even more interesting than usual. Say, listen, Babette, I wondered if you could do me a huge favor?"

"Sure, no problem, toots. What is it?"

"I am **REALLY** craving Luke's chocolate chip pancakes. Could you _pleaaaase_ call in the order for me and have them deliver it to your house and bring it over it me or actually - I can come pick it from _you_ when it gets here."

"Sure, sweetie, and don't be silly, I'll bring it to you when it comes."

"Oh, thanks, Babette, you're the best! And could you ask him to throw in some crispy bacon and extra butter and syrup?"

"You got it!"

Lorelai went back into the kitchen to pour herself another cup of coffee and turned on her laptop.

As the computer booted up, she recalled once again that she still had not checked on making a botox appointment for herself. _I'll just online and find someone now and get this over with,_ she thought decisively.

About twenty minutes later, she'd narrowed down her choice to a cosmetic clinic in Waterbury and started to add the contact details to her Blackberry when Paul Anka took off running for the front door. Lorelai rose and followed him, happy that Babette had finally arrived with the food.

Just then, she heard knocking, "I'm coming, Babette!" she called out. "Ooh! Paul Anka, if you're a good boy, mama's gonna give you some of her bacon. Do you want some bacon? Do you, boy?"

Paul Anka got up on his hind legs and twirled around several times, wagging his tail madly. He'd lived long enough in the Gilmore household to know what the word "bacon"meant.

"We need to talk!"Luke said gruffly as Lorelai flung open the front door and was shocked to see Luke standing there with her food.

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_And so ends episode 4 of the "Special" Season 8 of the Gilmore Girls. Please let us know if the network should keep the show on the air._


	5. Pigtails and Lederhosen

Episode 5 of Season 8 of the Gilmore Girls

**The sponsors wish to thank ****Jeremy****Shane****, ****Chloe2007****, ****Itzcheeseball****, ****LastWhiteRose****, ****PalforPolkaDots**(hope ep. 4 didn't interfere with your math homework too much ~:o)-**),** **and ****CoffeeBeanner**** (**_your comment __about commercial breaks cracked me up_**) for their reviews of Episode 4.**

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Lorelai stood there transfixed at the sight of Luke, her eyes growing as large as two blue saucers.

"The only time I've ever seen you this speechless was that time you were posing in one of those paintings at that ridiculous Living Art festival," Luke commented with amusement as he walked into the house.

"But you … Babette…" Lorelai stammered, "I was over at Babette's when she ordered the delivery – why are you bringing it to _me_?"

"Babette may have called it in, but the order had Lorelai's name written all over it. You and Rory are the only two people who ever order chocolate chip pancakes besides the out of town tourists."

"Well … you don't know. Maybe Babette wanted to try something new."

"Babette was _already_ at the diner at seven this morning. She had three fried eggs, a stack of buttermilk pancakes with bacon, cinnamon raisin toast and a side of sausage that she washed down with a large hot chocolate topped with extra whipped cream. I know her and Miss Patty can put it away, but I think it's safe to say that even she's saving room to load up on more food at the Oktoberfestival."

"Rory and her bright Yale ideas, I knew she should have gone to Harvard instead," Lorelai muttered under her breath.

Luke gave her his classic odd ball stare in response to her nonsensical comment and took her food to the kitchen. As he walked into the kitchen, he spotted the laptop on the table, still open to the botox website.

"No wife of mine is getting **botox** injections!" he declared as he glared at the screen.

"Well, you'll have to be sure to have April include that condition when she proposes to the next woman you two want to marry."

"Sit down!" he ordered as he opened the cupboard to grab a plate to serve her breakfast on. "Here, Paul Anka, wanta piece of bacon?" he said, offering the grateful dog its long awaited morsel.

"Hey! You're not supposed to give Paul Anka bacon!"

"Why not?"

"Çause then he'll like you better 'n me."

"He _already_ likes me better. I saved his life when he ate that baking chocolate. You remember, don't ya, boy?" Luke said as he petted Paul Anka's head and fed him another piece of bacon.

"Hey! Save some for me!"

"Quit worrying, I brought extra."

"I should call Babette and let her know I got the food."

"Hello?"

"Hi, Babette. Luke figured out the chocolate chip pancakes were for me so he brought 'em over here a few minutes ago. Just thought I'd let you know, hon."

"Ah, he still loves ya, sugah and thanks for the inside tip. I'm gonna go change my bet for the pool."

"You're welcome, Babette and thank _you_ for calling in my order to Luke."

"You're welcome, sweetie. Anytime you need anything just let us know, me and Apricot are here for ya. Bye, sugah!"

"Bye, Babette!"

Lorelai hung up the phone and erupted into a fit of laughing hysterics.

"What's so funny?" Luke asked.

"Babette told me anytime I needed help, she and Apricot were there for me. Apricot is her _cat_! If you could just see that cat! Every time I go over there, it jumps in my lap and looks at me like it wants to say 'Save me from this crazy lady!'" she replied, doubling over in laughter.

Luke smiled and moved forward to take her into his arms.

"What are you doing?"

"Would you just stand still?" Luke responded, kissing Lorelai passionately.

"Wow! That was a déjà-vou all over again moment," Lorelai murmured, recalling their first kiss at the Dragonfly Inn.

"Definitely a déjà-vou all over again moment," Luke agreed as he kissed her again.

"Luke! Us kissing like this isn't going to solve anything," Lorelai responded, suddenly growing very serious.

"I am **NOT** leaving this house until we _do_ get this solved."

"Well, I think that's going to be impossible because I'm leaving in less than an hour to meet Sookie and Jackson and the kids for the Oktoberfestival."

"That's okay. I'll be here."

"Don't you have a diner to run?"

"It'll be fine. I left Lane in charge and things'll be quieting down soon because of the festival."

"Oh, make yourself comfortable then, I'm going to go start getting ready."

Paul Anka suddenly jumped in Luke's lap and licked his face, "What's that, Paul Anka? You want me to save you from this crazy lady?!"

"Ah, Lucas, be very careful what you say to Paul Anka. I've taught him many, many evil tricks and he's capable of inflicting Cujo-like harm to anyone based on telepathic commands I send him."

"You're sending _this_ dog telepathic commands?"

"Yeah, I learned all about in an amazing book called 'Kreskin for Kanines'."

"Go get ready – _pleaaase!"_

About a half later, Lorelai came bounding down the stairs in a cute, German girl beer costume, with matching knee-hi stockings and her hair done up in cute little pigtails tied with ribbons. Luke drank in the sight of her in her short, busty outfit and hoped they'd reconcile in time for him to make out with her while she was still wearing this sexy costume.

"Later, Paul Anka! Later, Luke!" she called out as she ran towards the front door.

"Later, Heidi!"

Jackson greeted Lorelai when she arrived at their house.

"Nice lederhosen, Jackson!" Lorelai complimented.

"Thank you and you look very nice in your German girl beer costume, Lorelai. Come in! Come in!"

"So what's Sookie wearing?"

"I'm afraid she didn't have time to make an outfit for herself, but she did make this outfit for me and outfits for the kids. They look adorable; wait 'til you see them!"

"Hi, Lorelai!" Sookie called out cheerfully as she brought out Davey and Martha dressed in their costumes.

"Jackson was right. They do look adorable! I wish Rory was here to see this. They look just like Hansel and Gretel!"

"I'll take a picture," Sookie giggled delightedly. "Say cheese, children!"

"Teeese!" they both said in unison.

"Well, is everybody ready?" Jackson asked.

"I think so!" Sookie replied.

"Oh, Sookie, I got the best news today. Rory's getting extra time off when she comes to Connecticut this week so I get to have her for the whole weekend!"

"Yaaay! That's so exciting! Why don't you two come over for dinner on Saturday?"

"Sure! That'd be great! Thanks, Sookie!"

"What do you think Rory would like me to make?"

"Oh that's okay, Sookie, she's not fussy. I'm sure whatever you make will be just fine."

"I know, I know, but I'd to make at least one thing she really likes."

"Okay ... one thing she _really_, _really_ likes is macaroni and cheese."

"Well, mac and cheese it is, then!"

"I wish my mother was as nice as you. She serves us gross, inedible things like snails, rabbits and thymus glands, aka sweetbreads, to try to class up me and Rory's palates, but we just make fun of it and refuse to take a bite, no matter how much she tries to tell us we're unsophisticated ingrates ruining her Hyacinth Bucket candlelight style suppers."

"Got it! No snails, rabbits or thymus glands, aka sweetbreads, at Rory's welcome home dinner party!"

"Hey everybody, look at all those arts and crafts!" Lorelai called out. "They have quilts and knitted scarves , homemade candles and little German figurine thingies. Should we go take a look?"

"That's okay, ladies, why don't you all go over there and take a look? I'll go ahead and check out the selections at the beer tent."

"Jackson, bring the kids with you so you can take them over to the funnel cake booth after you're done at the beer tent and we'll meet you at the tables in front of the band stand in twenty minutes."

"Sure, sweetie. Come on, Davey and Martha, daddy's gonna get a nice cold German beer and then I'm gonna buy you two a funnel cake!"

"Okay, Lorelai, I know 'Should we all go take a look at the arts and crafts?' was code speak to ditch Jackson so we could talk alone. _You_ don't even like looking at that that kind of stuff.  
What's going on?"

_******Thank you for tuning into Episode 5. If you'd like the show to continue, please leave a review for our sponsors.******_


	6. Cuckoo for Sauerkraut

Episode 6 of Season 8 of the Gilmore Girls

**The sponsors would like to thank Jeremy Shane, Itzcheeseball, Coffeebeanner, Chloe2007, and LastWhiteRose for their reviews of Episode 5.**

* * *

While Lorelai, Sookie and Jackson were hanging out at the Stars Hollow Oktoberfestival, Luke was busy making plans to win back his lady. After she left, he located the hiding place where Lorelai kept her extra house key and locked up the house to head out and pick up supplies for what he hoped would be a romantic evening at the Gilmore house.

A couple of hours later he returned and started getting things ready. First, he covered the dining table with an elegant sunflower colored table cloth and a pair of tapered golden candles planted inside tall crystal candlesticks and then he placed a bottle of Pinot Grigot in the fridge to chill and started prepping the food for dinner.

Looking up at the clock, he noticed it was almost four thirty, so he stopped to change into the clothes he'd brought along for the occasion, the black cashmere sweater and black slacks Lorelai had bought for him from Bloomingdale's when he'd been dating Rachel. His relationship with Rachel seemed like a million years ago, barely memorable by now, but he never forgot her parting words, advising him to make sure he told Lorelai he loved her. Rachel had never been more right, but it had been the wrong time because Lorelai was already taken by Max. He blinked and digested that last thought hard. He knew he needed to act swiftly and be successful before there was another Max, Alex, Jason or Christopher in Lorelai's life.

"I'm home!" Lorelai called out as she flung open the front door. "Luke! You still here? I know you must be. I see your truck outside. Oh, Lucas!!!!!"

Lorelai wandered into the kitchen and Luke handed her a glass of white wine as she spotted the impressive tablescape Luke had prepared.

"Wow! Did 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy' stage a home invasion while I was out? That table setting would make Martha Stewart jealous and look at you, Mr. Danes – you are looking ultra metrosexual tonight – those clothes are kickin'!"

"I know they are! You picked them out for me when I was dating Rachel. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot I have good taste. Ooh! Check out the gifts I picked up at the festival!" Lorelai exclaimed, digging into her shopping bag and retrieving a German beer stein.

"_I Love My Oom Pa-pa_?" Luke said incredulously as he read the beer stein's inscription out loud.

"Future Father's Day gift for Richard."

"And you think he'll _like_ this?"

"Nah, not really, but I live for those moments when I can say or do things that make my mother scream out, 'Oh now, Lorelai, that's **ridiculous!**'"

"I think when you give him that stein, you'll definitely get your wish. Did you buy anything else at the festival?" Luke asked with skeptical amusement as he folded his arms and leaned back against the kitchen counter.

"Let's see … I got some bratwurst for Paul Anka, some chocolate covered German pretzels for Rory –"

Luke snatched the bag of chocolate pretzels out of Lorelai's hands.

"Hey! Those are Rory's I said!"

"They have chocolate on them. I'm putting them away in the cabinet so Paul Anka doesn't eat them and get sick again. Show me what else you got," Luke said, trying to hide his amusement.

"Ta-da!" Lorelai exclaimed as she pulled a baseball cap out of her bag. "I got this one for you!"

"_I'm Cuckoo for Sauerkraut_?"

"Don't you get it? Cuckoo as in _German_ cuckoo clocks, sauerkraut as in _German_ cabbage? Other than the fact that it's a shameful pilferage of the Cocoa Puff cereal slogan, what better memento could you find to capture the essence of the Oktoberfestival experience?"

"Where's Emily Gilmore when I need her?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "What happened to your good taste?"

"Oh _that_ – it comes and goes. I had a feeling you wouldn't like the hat, so I got you this," Lorelai replied as she pulled a crimson flannel shirt out of her bag.

"This is very nice," Luke said as he fingered the shirt's material. "They were selling _these_ at the Oktoberfestival?"

"No, I got it at the sporting goods store across the street."

"Lorelai, you didn't have to go to all that trouble of getting me a 'back-up' gift. This looks like an expensive shirt."

"Other than the food, the best gifts at that festival _were_ those stupid oom pa-pa steins and the sauerkraut hats and I wanted to get you _something _to let you know how sorry I am about the other night when you came over here with April."

"What are you sorry about? I'm the one who messed up the marriage proposal."

"And I'm the one who made too much of it."

"Well, I don't think so. I think we should have another glass of wine, I'll finish up here in the kitchen and we can talk about it some more over a nice, relaxing dinner."

"Okay! I'll go get changed then."

"Don't you dare take off that sexy costume – at least not right now."

"Ooh, dirty!" Lorelai cooed, as she playfully swiveled her hips and batted her eye lashes at Luke.

"I hope so," Luke murmured sensuously, as he pulled Lorelai into him, kissing her passionately.

"Uh, did you need me to help you with dinner?" Lorelai asked after their fervent kiss, she felt so faint she didn't know what else to say.

"Dinner can wait!" Luke replied as he picked up Lorelai and carried her into her bedroom.

After they made love, Luke rolled over and gave Lorelai a light kiss and told her to lie in bed and relax while he finished making dinner. About a half hour later, he brought her another glass of wine and told her dinner was ready and then led her into the candle lit kitchen.

They dined on ceaser salad and veal piccata and pieces of chocolate cream pie from Luke's diner and then Lorelai climbed on Luke's lap and laid her head on his shoulder.

"So what changed your mind about us being together?" Luke asked softly.

"I had a long talk with Sookie today at the festival and she helped me see the error of my ways and the perfection of your ways."

"Oh, I'm faaar from perfect."

"But you are perfect, Luke. You are! You've done more for me than all the other men in my life combined, including my own father."

"But I've also done a lot to make you insecure. Not going away with you when you wanted to elope and using April as an excuse, taking forever to ask you out when I wanted to for so long, but didn't because I never thought you'd think I'd measure up to the other guys you were dating and I haven't given you much to hold onto since we got back together at Rory's going away party. I'm sorry if you thought when I came over here with April the other night that it was all her idea and I was just doing it to please her. Truth is she thinks quite a lot of you and she wanted to know why we weren't married yet. She asked and I blurted out the story about not marrying you because of finding out about her and that's when she insisted we come over here and get it straightened out right away. Marrying you has been on my mind for a quite awhile and when April asked why we hadn't gotten hitched yet, my impulses got the better of me. I should not have had a child come over here with me when I was getting ready to pop such an intimate question. No wonder you got upset."

"Well, I've given you plenty of reasons to be insecure over the years, too, Luke," Lorelai replied sadly, her eyes moistening.

"There's another woman in my family that I think would approve of us getting married, too."

"Liz?"

"Oh, sure, Liz. She definitely would, she's always been crazy about you. Well, she's crazy, period … but I'm talking about someone else."

"Really? I don't know any other women in your family."

"I'm talking about my mother. I think – I KNOW she would have wanted you to have this," Luke said as he reached into his pocket and retrieved a ring. "It's her engagement ring. Lorelai Victoria Gilmore, would you do me the honor of finally becoming wife?" Luke asked as he slipped the ring on her finger.

"I do! I would! I mean I _will_!" she laughed through a shower of happy tears. "I think this ring is absolutely beautiful. I'm so touched that you gave me something so special that belonged to your mother. Thanks, Luke!"

"You're welcome, sweetheart. It means a lot to me to know that you'll be wearing it."

"Luke, could we get married this Saturday?"

"Well, sure we could, but don't you need more time to plan?"

"Oh, Luke, I don't want to have another long, dragged out engagement and have something else come along and jinx our marriage. Let's seal the deal as soon as possible, besides Rory's coming home this week and she got extra time off to stay over the weekend so she'll be able to come to the wedding if we have it on Saturday."

"Well, that's great! That's great! By all means, let's have the wedding this Saturday, then!" Luke agreed cheerfully; glad to hear Rory would be able to attend their wedding.

"Let me call her now and give her the good news."

"Hello?"

"Hi Rory, it's mommy! Guess who's about to become Mrs. Luke Danes?"

"Who?"

"_Very_ _funny_!"

"I thought so," Rory chuckled. "Congratulations, Mom! So I take it the April issue is no longer an issue."

"Not anymore, hon."

"So when's the wedding?"

"This Saturday!!!"

"Really, do I get to be your maid of honor?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, sweets."

"Is Luke there with you now?"

"He sure is. Wanta talk to him?"

"You know I do."

"Hi, Rory!"

"Hi, Luke. Congratulations, I'm so happy you're going to be my stepdaddy."

"Not as happy as I'll be having you as a stepdaughter."

"Luke?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Please make sure the little girl in my mother never goes away. She's kinda been AWOL the past year or so and I'd like to see her come back again."

"Don't worry, you will, hon. I'm going to spend the rest of my life doing my best to make sure your mother's happy."

"And that's why you're perfect for her. You understand that side of my mom and you go along with it and baby her instead of trying to change her."

"It's one of the many sides of your mother that endears me and intrigues me. Lorelai is definitely one of a kind and I'm very lucky to have her."

"So am I. Well, congratulations again, Luke, could you put me back on with my mom and I'll tell her goodbye."

"Sure, hon. I'm looking forward to seeing you when you get home, bye now."

"Bye, Luke!"

"I'm so happy you're marrying Luke, mom, he really loves you and I know he's going to take good care of you."

"I know he will too, sweets. It's going to mean a lot to both of us to have you at our wedding. Well, I'm gonna let you go now, I know you have to be up early in the morning. Bye, Rory, love ya!"

"Love you, too, Mom, bye!"

"Well, I guess I'll call Sookie and Jackson and then call it a night."

"Okay, honey. I'm gonna go ahead and go turn in now. I was wondering when you come to bed if you could –"

"Wear my fräulein outfit?"

"Yeah! That'd be great!"

"Okay! And if you're a good boy, I'll wear the cuckoo hat, too."

"That might be a mood spoiler, leave the hat out, please."

"Okay, but just this once."

Lorelai called Sookie to tell her she was getting married and Sookie let out a scream of giddiness that was loud enough to wake the dead and probably everyone in her neighborhood. After she calmed her down, Lorelai told her she'd fill her in on the rest the next day at the inn. After she hung up the phone, she made herself a cup of tea and cut herself a sliver of pie. She needed a few minutes to be alone with her thoughts. She stared at her engagement ring and smiled, it felt like magic on her finger. She thought back to her encounter with Jason the day before and how much she'd regretted fate had robbed her of being his wife and then she realized, despite all the things that had bonded them together, Jason lacked the one ingredient that Luke had an abundance of, which was warmth. Then she thought of Max, the man she almost married. He was the sweetest man she'd ever known, besides Luke, but she'd gotten the feeling before the wedding that Max wanted to tame her spirit, something she knew Luke would never, ever want to do to her. And finally there was Christopher, the man who was usually never around when she needed him and always managed to show up when he could do the most damage. But now none of the past mattered, in less than a week, she and Luke would be husband and wife and she was the happiest she'd been in a long, long time and she knew at last she'd never be lonely again.

_*****We hope you enjoyed the final episode of Season 8. The sponsors would like to take this opportunity to, once gain, thank all the reviewers for their continued support, allowing the show to remain on the air. Stay tuned for the upcoming wedding special!*****_


	7. Promo

You were there for Sookie and Jackson's wedding …

You were there for Dean and Lindsay's wedding …

You were there when Richard and Emily renewed their vows…

You were there to see Zach and Lane to see get married …

You were there when Christopher proposed to Lorelai in Paris…

But you were never there for the wedding you wanted to see the most … until now ….

**We cordially invite you to attend the long awaited wedding of  
Lorelai Victoria Gilmore and Lucas Danes …**


	8. Special

**Genre**: Romance, Humor  
**Pairings**: Lorelai/Luke and Rory/Jess  
**Rating**: T  
**Disclaimer**: _Lorelai, Luke, Rory, Jess and Paul Anka and all other recognizable "Gilmore Girls" characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino, Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions, and the WB. There is no profit from the copyrighted characters or infringement intended. Also, I do not own "Bewitched" or "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles or "Baby I Love Your Way" by Peter Frampton._

_PREVIOUSLY ON THE GILMORE GIRLS, SEASON 8…_

_At the end of Gilmore Girls, Season 7, we were left with a hopeful cliff hanger when the final scene ends with a passionate kiss between Lorelai and Luke. Unfortunately, when Season 8 opens, the show is back to its usual cat and mouse games, leading to more disappointment for Luke and Lorelai fans. In Episode 1, Luke proposes to Lorelai, however she rejects his proposal, because April is actually the one who made the proposal on his behalf and Lorelai feels Luke only wants to marry her now to please April and it reminds her of the time Luke rejected her request that they elope to Maryland because he said he had April to consider. An embittered Lorelai starts to feel she has wasted too many years of her life looking for the perfect romance and decides she'd rather just seek a husband who can give her financial security since she's convinced that true love only exists in fairy tales, anyway. She turns to Emily to enlist her help in finding a wealthy husband, but Emily shockingly rebuffs her request, telling her she's too old now for Emily to find a suitor for her. By Episode 4 (Burnt Pop Tarts), fans were becoming increasingly annoyed that Luke and Lorelai hadn't been reconciled and started writing protest letters to the network, luckily they listened and so by Episode 6, Luke and Lorelai are enjoying a romantic dinner at her house when Luke proposes again and she accepts!_

**AN: I acknowledge this is an extra long chapter, but this is a two-hour special, so grab your Red Vines and your popcorn, and enjoy the wedding we Gilmore fans were meant to have, but never got – until now! Apologies for the delay in bringing you the wedding special, but the network shamelessly delayed its premiere until Sweeps Week.**

* * *

**And now, we proudly present  
"Luke and Lorelai, the Wedding Special"**

The next morning, Lorelai awoke to hear clattering coming from downstairs, she rolled over and saw the big red numbers on her alarm clock said 5:30 so she moaned and went back to sleep.

Luke came into the bedroom at 6:00 with a tray loaded up with scrambled eggs, bacon, buttered toast and coffee and tapped Lorelai on the shoulder.

"Sleep! Must have sleep!" Lorelai muttered, not opening her eyes.

"Come on, Lorelai, wake up and have something to eat. I brought you some breakfast."

"Breakfast?" Lorelai asked, opening one eye.

As Lorelai sat up, Luke placed the tray table across her lap and tucked a paper towel under her chin.

"I feel like I'm in a high chair," she pouted.

"Well, if you're going to act like a baby, I'm gonna treat you like one. Now start eating before I spoon feed you."

"Wait, do you hear that?"

"The voices inside your head that never shut up?"

"No! Ki – That's Kirk!!!!"

"What???"

"Ssshhh, just listen," Lorelai said. "Come on," she said removing the tray from her lap and taking Luke by the hand to lead him downstairs. When they got downstairs, she peeked through her living room window curtains and saw the whole town of Stars Hollow standing on her front lawn while Kirk was standing there making a speech and Taylor was looking down at a clipboard.

"That stupid bet," Lorelai muttered under breath.

"Bet? What bet?"

"They've got a pool going to see when you'd be proposing to me again."

"Now why would they be doing something like that? And how did they know I proposed to you the other time? Did Sookie tell them?"

"No, but your daughter did, down at the diner. Apparently, she's been quite the Chatty Cathy doll, lately."

"Oh, this is ridiculous! I'm going out there and put a stop to this right now."

"No wait, Luke, this could be a good thing. I don't care about their stupid bet and if we go out there now and give them what they want, I won't have to worry about sending out wedding invitations on such short notice. This way we can kill two birds with one stone. Come on, let's get dressed and go meet our fans. And, Luke …"

"What?"

"This is a _happy_ thing, so please don't put your grouchy pants on before we go out there."

"Those are the only kind I own."

"Now! Now! Don't make me have to wear that 'I'm Cuckoo for Sauerkraut' hat. Believe me, the irony would not be lost on this crowd, Mr. Sour Puss, they know you too well."

Ten minutes later, Luke and Lorelai walked out onto the front porch to face the Stars Hollow citizens and Lorelai pretended not to know what they were up to.

"Oh, hi, Kirk. You back collecting donations to find a cure for that rash in your 'special' place that never goes away?"

"Uh …. Not right now, Lorelai, I'll talk to you about that later," he replied sheepishly.

"Well, I'm glad you're all here, Luke and I –"

"Not, now, Lorelai," Taylor interrupted, "we have an important town matter to discuss."

"It's okay, Taylor, I already know about the bet. Luke proposed to me last night and I said 'yes'!" Lorelai said, beaming and flashing her ring for the crowd to see.

"In that case, the bets are officially null and void. No one was supposed to give Lorelai or Luke advance notice about the pool. Apparently someone leaked it to them. _Therefore_, Luke probably chose last night to propose so he could split the payout with the winner."

"I did no such thing, you stupid fat head!"

"Oh, I think I have evidence to the contrary. Babette, Lorelai's very good friend and next door neighbor, changed her bet yesterday, and coincidentally she got it right on the nose. _Gee_, I wonder how that happened?"

"Well, you're out on Lorelai's lawn at 6:00 a.m., the morning after I proposed to Lorelai to settle this stupid bet. You call that a coincidence? What have you been doing? Spying on us, Taylor?"

"Certainly not. We noticed your truck had been gone all night and so we all came over here to see if you were at Lorelai's and you **were**."

"Cut the bull shit, Taylor and just give us our money back now!" Gypsy yelled out.

"That's impossible. The money's at the bank and I have to make sure I properly reconcile the refunds. That could take – I don't know... a couple of weeks maybe, depending on how well Kirk kept the records."

"Taylor, give this money back to everyone today or our deal is off!" Luke screamed indignantly.

"Well, I'm sure special arrangements can be made and if Kirk and I work diligently, I can have everyone's money refunded to them at the town meeting tonight."

"Wow! I want your special, magical powers!" Lorelai said to Luke, gushing in admiration.

"Now that that issue's been settled, I want to invite you all to our wedding. It's this Saturday. Sorry for the short notice, if you'd like to come, you can RSVP me by going on the Dragonfly's website and clicking on the email button to send your response. Try to send it no later than Wednesday so we get enough food for the reception. We'll send out an email with the details for the wedding location and time on Thursday."

"Saturday, wow that is short notice. You pregnant, sugar?" Babette piped in.

"Not yet, but we've been doing a lot of practicing," Lorelai joked.

"Oh, if I were only 20 years younger I'd like to be practicing making a baby with Luke. He's got one hot butt, I tell ya. You could bounce a rock off it!"

"Oh, _pleeeasse_, Babette, if you were 20 years younger, I'd be 20 years younger, too, and there's no way he'd pick you over me!"

"In your dreams, Miss Patty!"

"Yes! Yes, he is!" Miss Patty responded, grinning ear to ear.

"What if you don't have the internet?" Kirk asked.

"Huh?" Lorelai asked.

"You said we should go on the Dragonfly website if we want to go to the wedding. What if you don't have the internet? Can we still come?"

"Who doesn't have the internet? _Please,_ it's the 21st century! It's like saying you don't have a phone," Gypsy remarked.

"Well, I don't have the _internet_; does that make me an inferior person?" Miss Patty commented in exasperation.

"I don't have the internet either," Babette joined in, "a phone I got, but not the stinkin' internet."

"I don't have the internet," Luke commented.

"Thanks for helping, Grandpa," Lorelai said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

"Lulu has the internet, but she stopped letting me use it when she caught me surfing porn sites," Kirk said.

"Ohhhh…. They have porn on the internet? Maybe it's time to check into it," Miss Patty commented, with a far away, dreamy, look in her eyes.

By then, Lorelai had'd enough of the usual, loony antics of her fellow citizens and decided to find another way to accommodate the village idiots.

"Okay, listen up everybody. Forget the internet! New Plan! I'll bring a sign up sheet to tonight's town meeting and flyers with all the wedding day details. So if you can write your name and you can read third grade English, you'll be able to come to our wedding."

"Lorelai?"

"What, Taylor?" she asked, trying with all her might to resist the urge to strangle him.

"You know very well that item is not on the meeting topic agenda and therefore, cannot possibly be included with tonight's pre-scheduled meeting events."

"The _deal, _Taylor," Luke warned.

"Okay, maybe we can make an exception this one time," Taylor said, backing down quickly.

"Ooh! There's those magical powers again. You're my Uncle Arthur from _Bewitched._"

"I LOVE that show," Kirk chimed in.

"So do I," Miss Patty agreed. "Wasn't Uncle Arthur funny? Did you see that episode where Samantha opened up the cooking pot and his head was in it and he told her was a _stewaway_?"

"Yeah, yeah," Babette laughed, "and how 'bout the time he showed up in the painting and told Sam he'd been framed? That was a scream!"

"Well, I'd love to stay here with you all while you travel down the _Bewitched_ memory lane_, _but I have a diner to run," Luke announced, glad to be making his exit.

"Bye, Uncle Arthur!"everyone called out as he climbed into his truck and drove away.

"Well, I guess have to go get ready for work. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see everyone at the town meeting tonight."

"Bye, Lorelai," they called out as they started to leave.

When Lorelai got to the inn, Sookie ran out to greet her, still excited about the news about Lorelai's engagement.

"Oh my gosh, this is _sooo_ thrilling! I can't believe it," Sookie gushed, jumping up and down. "Tell me everything! Tell me everything!" Sookie screamed out as she hugged Lorelai.

"Please tell her to be quiet," Michel moaned, "I have a headache. Paw-Paw lost his favorite chew toy and was having nightmares last night so I had to stay awake to comfort him. The poor little thing!"

"Michel, I'm engaged!" Lorelai said, showing him her ring.

"To whom?"

"To Luke!"

"Ah, yes, your wedding will be such a classy affair. Will all the men in the wedding party be wearing flannel tuxes and backwards baseball caps or just the groom?"

"Well, you'll just to have to see for yourself. We're getting married at the inn this Saturday."

"Well, I am sorry; I cannot attend the wedding. I have to take Paw-Paw and Chin-Chin for their spa treatments on Saturdays. The sweet little things, they would be so disappointed if they miss their appointment."

"Michel! You can't miss Lorelai's wedding to take your stupid dogs to a spa appointment!" Sookie yelled.

"Yes, I _can_ miss the wedding and do not call my dogs stupid again or you will live to regret it. I am sorry I will not be able to attend the nuptials, but please take lots and lots of pictures so I will have oodles of comedic aids at my disposal in the event I experience an overwhelming need to enjoy a good belly laugh. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a carb free bagel I need to go heat up in the kitchen."

"Oh, he's impossible!" Sookie seethed. "I'd be willing to send back the Statue of Liberty to France if they'd take him with it!"

"Well, that's one time bomb eliminated from the wedding," Lorelai commented, actually relieved Michel had declined her invitation to the wedding.

"You're not upset Michel's not coming to your wedding?"

"Not really, Sookie. It's bad enough the way he abuses our customers at the inn, I don't need him walking around here on my wedding day treating my guests like they're American tourists in Paris. Speaking of which, I hope I can get that lucky when I invite my mother to the wedding. As annoying as Michel is, he's still small potatoes compared to Emily Gilmore. If I want to avoid having a matrimonial Pearl Harbor, I have to find a way to trick her into turning down my invitation. Let me go call her now and see if I can pull another rabbit out of my hat."

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom I was calling to –"

"Oh, Lorelai, I have some news for you!"

"I have some news for you, too, Mom!"

"Well, I called you so your news will have to wait!"

"No, I called _you, _Mom!"

"That's not the point! Will you just keep quiet so I can finish?!"

"Go ahead, Mom!" Lorelai sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I've recently befriended Pennilyn Lott and –"

"You've befriended _Pennilyn Lott_? Should I start preparing for the Apocalypse now or is it too late?"

"Must you always exaggerate everything, Lorelai?"

"Mom! It would be impossible to exaggerate anything when it comes to you and Pennilyn Lott. You almost _left_ Dad when you found out about his 'Same Time, Next Year' luncheons with Pennilyn."

"Lorelai, would you please shut up so I can finish?" Emily screamed into the phone transmitter.

"Go ahead!"

"Anyway, Pennilyn Lott wanted to join our local chapter of the DAR. Of, course, as chair person of our chapter I have the power to veto her membership in our group and I fully intended to do so, but someone pointed out on her application that the Breckinridge family is part of her pedigree. As you know, we come from on a long line of Breckinridges on my mother's side. Now that I know Pennilyn and I come from the same pedigree –"

"You can share membership dues at the American Kennel Club?"

"You're impossible, Lorelai! Just impossible! I'm trying to tell you that Pennilyn has a nice son named Dexter that would like to meet you. You asked me to find you a suitor through the DAR and I did that."

"Mom, do you need me to send you a map to help you arrive at the problem in this scenario? I can't go out with a relative!"

"Really, Lorelai! Pennilyn and I are fourth cousins, I hardly think that –"

"Did you forget that Gran and her husband were second cousins? There's already a malfunction in my DNA, if Dexter and I get married, our children will be featured on 'Ripley's Believe it or Not!'"

"I honestly don't know why I try to help! Don't ever ask me to introduce you to anyone again!"

"Actually, I won't. That's why I was calling to talk you."

"What do you mean? What are you talking about out?" Emily asked warily, growing fearfully suspicious.

"Mom, I'm getting married. Luke proposed and I said yes! We're having our wedding at the Dragonfly this Saturday."

"Lorelai Gilmore, how can you come to me to me on a Friday and ask me to find you a man and then call me the following Monday and tell me you're getting married? And to Luke of all people! I thought you said you didn't want to see him anymore."

"Gee, Mom and I thought you told me to be with Luke and that I was too old to hang with the DAR home boys."

"Well, I didn't want to appear too excited about your request to marry a high society man. I thought you'd finally come to your senses and if I acted too eager about it, you'd go running back in the other direction. Apparently, Trixie passed her trademarked brand of genius down to you, no matter what I tried with that woman, I could never outfox her either."

"Thanks for the compliment, Mom. It's so seldom I receive those from you."

"I don't know if it's so much a compliment as it is a complaint. What time do you want me and Richard at the inn on Saturday?"

"Be here at 3:00. I can't believe you're actually coming."

"Stop making me out to be a monster, Lorelai. I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't always wish you'd end up with a more polished, accomplished professional man, but I do know Luke cares a great deal for you and that it can be quite difficult for a woman to find that in today's world."

"Oh my gosh, Mom, this is our very first ever heart to heart conversation. I hope we have more of them."

"We could have had them a lot sooner if you didn't take all my comments and turn them into a Lily Tomlin comedy routine."

"Well, if I didn't make jokes and you didn't criticize me, we wouldn't be Lorelai and Emily Gilmore. I guess we both just need to be a little more sensitive to recognize those moments that call for us to step out of ourselves."

Emily got distracted by her latest maid entering the room and didn't respond to Lorelai's comment.

"Marta! What are you doing bringing the tea service in before 11:00? I told you not to bring the tea into the living room before 11:00. It's only 10:48. Bring the tea back the second the clock strikes 11:00 and that tea had better still be hot when it gets here."

"My, Mother, the domestic terrorist. Better be nicer to the staff, I hear Homeland Security is keeping an eye on you, Mom!"

"Homeland Security does not pay my staff's wages. I pay the highest salary for maids in Connecticut and when they come to work for me I expect them to –"

"Surrender their soul to you?"

"Honestly, Lorelai! I have to go now. I'll call you later on during the week so I can determine the appropriate attire to wear to your wedding."

"Okay, Mom, make sure you have the fashion section of your Sears Roebuck catalogue handy when you call."

"Really, Lorelai!"

"Bye, Mom!"

"How'd it go with Emily?" Sookie asked as Lorelai joined her in the kitchen.

"Oh, well, I guess I ran out of rabbits … she's coming," Lorelai sighed.

"Well, I still think it's better that you asked her to come, than if you didn't. I don't want you to be nervous on your wedding day, though, so I'll keep an eye on her for you."

"Are you sure you're up to it, Sookie? That's a pretty tall order."

"That's okay, Lorelai, I've been in training for years for this day. Michel has taught me very well."

That evening, after the town meeting, Lorelai went to Luke's apartment to spend the night. She asked Luke about what he meant concerning the "deal" he had with Taylor. He just smiled and told her he'd tell her what it was all about soon enough.

The rest of the week, Lorelai labored furiously to prepare her wedding arrangements. She ordered flowers in autumn colors, worked on the menu with Sookie and Luke brought over the chupah from her yard and set it up in the garden behind the inn. Even Emily was able to help out by giving her Gran's wedding gown to wear. She still had the wedding dress she had bought for her "first" wedding with Luke, but as beautiful as the dress was, she had always thought that it had brought bad luck to her and didn't want to risk wearing it again.

Rory took the bus from Hartford after the campaign rally back to Stars Hollow and met Lorelai at Luke's diner on Friday afternoon.

"Mom!" Rory called out excitedly as she ran full speed to meet Lorelai at the counter.

"Rory!" Lorelai shouted out as she turned to rise and hug Rory.

"Happy Dance!" Rory declared as she and Lorelai started prancing and leaping in unison.

"What are you two doing?" Luke asked gruffly as he came out of the kitchen and spotted them. He was actually amused, but he didn't want them to escalate their craziness to the next level in the middle of his diner so he masked his amusement.

"We're doing 'The Stars Hollow Macarena'!" Lorelai answered cheerfully.

"'The Stars Hollow Macarena'?"

"Yeah!" Rory answered as she busted her next move. "Want us to teach you the steps? Miss Patty made it up for my dance class along time ago."

"In that case, definitely not!"

"Ah! 'The Stars Hollow Macarena'!" Jess quipped as he descended the stairs from Luke's apartment.

"You _know _'The Stars Hollow Macarena'?"

"Yeah, get with it, Grandpa!"

"The place is getting crowded. Why don't you two save it for the wedding reception tomorrow?"

"Hey, get me drunk enough tomorrow and I might even join in," Jess joked pleasantly, shocking Lorelai, who was used to Jess using his snarkiness to attack everyone else's joyful moods.

Even Rory did a double take. _Was it possible Jess' perpetually angry nature had finally subsided?_ she nearly wondered out loud.

"Hey, Jess! I didn't know you were coming to the wedding," Rory commented.

"Yeah, well, what can I tell you? No one else wanted to be Uncle Luke's best man so I guess it was up to me. I hate to run and leave you lovely people, but I have a baseball cap fitting for tomorrow's wedding. See ya later!"

"He seems … _nice. _Did you find a Jess impostor to take the place of the real one? If so, I'd love to see if they stock any well behaved Emily Gilmores."

"It's the real Jess, new and improved, but it's really him. He really seems happy for the first time in his life. I hope it's gonna last. It'd be great to finally see him shed that chip off his shoulder."

The rest of the evening was just a blur to Lorelai. The next morning, Rory popped in Billy Idol's "White Wedding" song into Lorelai's CD player and placed a mug of coffee and a pop tart on her night stand.

"Rory, honey, it's not nice to wake your mommy up before daylight on her day off."

"Not even on your wedding day? Come on, Mom, you have to get up so you can start getting ready."

"But I'm tired…. Go tell Luke to reschedule the wedding for midnight," Lorelai moaned as she buried her head into her pillow.

Rory tore the pillow away from Lorelai and handed her the mug of coffee. As Lorelai absorbed the caffeine, she started to gain consciousness.

"Rory, I don't think you care as much about my wedding as you do about seeing Jess in his tuxedo."

"That's a terrible thing to say, Mom. If anything, I think I want this wedding to take place more than you do. If it happens to include Jess dressed in a tux, well then that's just a nice bonus."

"No, I think the bonus will be seeing Jess and my mother coming face to face. If you have any thoughts about reconciling with Jess, please make it happen in front of my mother so my wedding will be complete."

"I don't know whether you're being serious or sarcastic. You used to hate Jess."

"I never hated Jess. I just hated his personality. If Luke is right about Jess not being a jerk anymore, then I don't see any reason why you two shouldn't try to give it another shot. Aren't you supposed to be going to Philly next week?"

"Oh, I don't know, Mom. So much time's passed. For all I know, he's involved with someone else by now."

"It doesn't matter if he is. I think he's a lot like his uncle Luke. Once he finds what he likes, he sticks with it and no one else will do. I doubt he's ever found another woman that ever came as close to matching up to the great and wonderful Rory Gilmore."

"You know, Mom, Jess came by Grandma's when I was staying there after I dropped out of Yale and he basically told me I was screwing up my life by staying with Grandma and that I needed to get back to school."

"Well, I guess I owe the dude with the 'tude a debt of graditude."

"I'd say so," Rory teased. "But that's enough about Jess. We need to focus on getting you married today."

"Okay, honey, can you get me my glasses?"

"Why, you gonna read something?"

"No! You said we needed to _focus_ so ..."

"Here! Finish this," Rory said as she handed Lorelai her mug of coffee again, "and don't try to say anything clever again until your brain is fully awake. I'm going to go walk Paul Anka while you're getting ready."

"Hey, you used to be my favorite daughter 'til you said that!"

"I'm you're only daughter, so you have no choice in the matter – I _have_ to be your favorite."

"I have a feeling there may be a contender on the way."

"What are you talking about? Are you pregnant, Mom?"

"No, at least I don't think so, but Luke and I are trying."

"Want me to go and get you a pregnancy test?"

"Oh, no, hon. I wouldn't need one of those to know I'm pregnant."

"How?"

"Well, if I have an urge to wear a bow tie and vote Republican, that means I'm pregnant and the baby takes after your grandfather, if I go all Leona Helmsley on the maids at the inn, that means I'm pregnant and the baby takes after your grandmother, if I suddenly have the desire to eat healthy food and wear flannel underwear, that'll mean I'm pregnant with a baby that takes after Luke. See how this works?"

"How did you know you were pregnant with me?"

"That one was easy since you took after me. I was even more brilliant than usual when I was carrying you."

"Just let me know when the morning sickness kicks in. I have a feeling that'll be more reliable than the Lorelai Gilmore home pregnancy test."

"And skeptical … I was way more skeptical when I was carrying you around in my belly. Now please go ahead and walk Paul Anka, while I pretend to be getting ready, but actually go back to sleep."

"We'll be back in fifteen minutes," Rory warned.

Lorelai and Rory arrived at the inn at 9:30 and Lorelai went up to the bridal suite to hang her wedding gown and Rory's bridesmaid dress in the closet and then headed downstairs to meet with Sookie in the kitchen. Rory wandered out to the inn's garden and surveyed the landscape with admiration. The fall foliage on the trees were at their peak of perfection she observed as she stood under the canopy of trees covered with leaves of gold, fiery red and brilliant orange hues. The staff had already put all the rows of chairs into place for the guests and laid down a crimson runner leading to the chupah Luke had made for Lorelai so long ago. The florists were beginning to arrive and were starting to set up a plethora of autumnal floral arrangements whose colors blended beautifully with the surrounding vegetation.

To the left of the garden area, stood a party tent and dining tables and a stage for Hep Alien to perform on and a dance floor in front of the stage that had all been set up the day before. Rory was absolutely awestruck at how perfect and seamlessly the wedding was coming together when her mother had less than a week to plan the event, but she decided to keep her admiration to herself, remembering how Lorelai had freaked out over how her "perfect" wedding dress going to jinx her first marriage to Luke and somehow it ultimately did because Lorelai had not been able to erase the belief that the perfection of the dress was a sign of bad luck for her nuptials.

Back in the kitchen, Sookie and Lorelai were going over the list of food for the wedding. There would be hórdourves and drinks served right after the ceremony in the garden and then the dining room staff would start setting up the dinner buffet around 5:00. Lorelai opted to load down the menus with all of her and Rory's favorite food items. She chose chili cheese fries, mini pizzas, Red Vines and egg rolls for the hóurdourves, and cheese burgers, pork chops, Kung Pao chicken, pork fried rice, cheese quesadillas and tacos for the buffet dinner menu. There were no vegetables, except for what was in the Kung Pao Chicken and the lettuce and tomato inside the tacos. The dessert table she selected would offer Nutter Butter cookies, assorted doughnuts, and Mallomars along side a German chocolate wedding cake. She had also wanted to have a coffee fountain until Sookie pointed out the obvious danger of having very hot liquid spewing out of a metal tower, so they went with the usual coffee urns, which Lorelai, predictably, insisted there be many of.

After Lorelai exited the kitchen to rejoin Rory, Sookie looked over Lorelai's kiddie food menu and giggled. She'd additionally prepared more sophisticated food items on the sly, such as prime rib, lemon roasted potatoes, shrimp cocktail, white asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, Swiss chard, a wild mushroom risotto and her famous autumn salad, made with green apples and walnuts, but she decided it was funny to let Lorelai go on thinking that her wedding reception was basically going to be one gigantic Lorelai Happy Meal.

The rest of the wedding party arrived by 1:00. Lorelai had reserved an additional room for the men to use to get ready and she and her bridesmaids would use the bridal suite, where she and Luke would also spend their first night as husband and wife. Luke's best man, of course, was Jess and his groomsmen were Jackson and his old friend, Bud. In Lorelai's room were Rory, her maid of honor and Sookie and April, her bridesmaids, and Bud's wife, Maisey, who had been invited in to join them while Bud was getting ready. At precisely 3:00, a knock on the bridal suite door revealed the very prompt arrival of Emily and Richard. As Richard spotted Lorelai standing there in his mother's bridal gown, his eyes began to moisten as he was held spellbound by Lorelai's resemblance to a young Trixie.

"Astounding! It's just astounding"!" Richard exclaimed.

"What is, Grandpa?"Rory asked.

"This!" he replied, as he reached into his jacket and produced a photo of Trixie taken on her wedding day.

"You're the spitting image of Gran, Mom!"Rory marveled.

"But I don't want to be a 'spitting image'," Lorelai protested. "Now I'm conjuring up visions of angry, spitting llamas and tobacco juice spewing baseball players coming after me. Not a nice thing to be picturing while I'm taking my wedding vows."

"No, she's right, Lorelai," Emily agreed. "You're a carbon copy of Trixie in that wedding dress. Hard to believe I gave birth to someone who looks like the twin of someone who made my life a living hell. Well, maybe it isn't since you've done your own fair share of adding hell to my life," Emily remarked as she chuckled, thinking others would find her comment amusing.

"How dare you talk about my mother and daughter like that!" Richard seethed.

"Yeah! How dare you, Emily?" Sookie piped up, remembering her promise to watch Lorelai's back. "I think Lorelai makes a damn beautiful bride in Trixie's wedding gown. If you came here to criticize anything or _anybody_ today, I'll – I'll ban your DAR chapter from the inn and I happen to know those ladies love coming to our luncheons since we are one of the premiere inns in Connecticut and it's going to look pretty embarrassing for you if you can't book any events here when your own daughter happens to be one of its proprietors."

"You wouldn't dare!" Emily countered."

"Try me!" Sookie firmly replied.

"Well, Richard, I think we'd better go downstairs," Emily announced frostily.

"That's okay, Emily, you go on ahead, I have a daughter to walk down the aisle."

"Fine!" she retorted, slamming the door of the bridal suite behind her.

"Well, I guess it's show time," Lorelai announced. "Is everyone ready to go outside and walk the plank with me?"

"Would you ladies mind waiting outside?" Richard asked. "I have something I want to say to Lorelai before the ceremony. It'll only take a few moments, I promise. Uh, Sookie?"

"Ye- yes?" she asked, her voice faltering, already feeling bad about scolding Emily.

"My daughter may have inherited my great mother's looks, but you have her spunk! You're the only one, besides her, that I've ever seen put Emily her in place. Well done, Sookie!"

"Thank you, Richard!" Sookie replied as a smile crossed her face and she closed the door to the bridal suite.

"Dad, are you gonna talk to me about the birds and bees now? _Dirty_!"

"No, I was always meaning to have that talk with you, but obviously I was too late and Rory beat me to it. No, I just wanted to take a moment to tell you how proud I am of you."

"Proud?"

"Yes, very. I know, up until now, your love life has been one long roller coaster ride, but I also know that you took your time and wouldn't let yourself be pulled down the aisle until you found the person you truly loved. I'm glad at least one of us had the courage to do so."

"Oh, Dad, I'm so glad you understand how much Luke means to me and how much I love him – and how much I love you," Lorelai said softly as she hugged her father.

"I love you, too, sweetie. Well, shall we?" he asked, motioning to the door.

"We shall!"she replied happily.

Rory led the bridal procession down the crimson carpet and as her eyes locked on Jess', she felt herself start to tremble. He had never looked more handsome in his life. She wondered if there would ever be a chance the two of them could be reunited. Suddenly, she remembered she was at her own mother's wedding and scolded herself inwardly, telling herself to remain focused. Little could she have known when Jess' eyes met hers that he was struck with how stunningly beautiful she looked in her wine colored, satin gown and that he was also speculating as to whether or not Rory still harbored any feelings for him.

When Lorelai made her appearance on the carpet, the song, "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles began to play. The Bangles were still Lorelai's favorite band and this song seemed to capture her love and feelings for Luke in a way for her like no other song did.

As Lorelai began to proceed down the aisle, she noticed people were beginning to wail, some of them were passing boxes of Kleenex down the rows like collection plates at a church. The more steps she took, the louder their crying got. Finally, the commotion got so loud, that she turned to pivot to face the crowd.

"People, get a grip on yourself. This is a wedding celebration – not George Bush's third inaugural ball – which, by the way, would be illegal, but I wouldn't put it past Bush to... Oops! I lost my train of thought. Why are you all crying so much that we won't have to water back here for a month?"

"We can't help it, we're so happy. These are tears of relief," Miss Patty blubbered. "We thought this day would never come!"

"Yeah, sugah," Babette piped in, "you two have been on our top ten list of best things to gossip about in Stars Hollow for years. Everyone loves a good love story, honey; you and Luke are like our very own Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara."

"Also like our Niles and Daphne from 'Frasier'," Kirk added sobbingly.

"Yo! Yeah! You're our Beavis and Butthead!" Zach blurted out dumbly and happily, thinking he was contributing something good to the inappropriately timed discussion.

"Zach!" Lane screamed, pulling him by his ear. "Go to the lobby now and don't come out 'til I come get you."

"Okay! Okay! I'm going! You know, you're starting to remind me a lot of Mrs. Kim more and more everyday."

"Oh, for heavens sake"!" Luke screamed from the other end of the aisle. "Everybody settle down and wait until the reception to resume this insane discussion and then only when I've gotten very drunk so I can tune you all out. If you don't _mind_, I'd like to get married to Scarlett now, please.

"Ooh! He' so sexy when he's grumpy," Miss Patty gushed.

"Boy, I'll say," Babette agreed, "if I was Lorelai, I'd never want to see him happy! The angrier he gets, the hotter he gets!"

At this point, Emily fell into a fit of laughing hysterics. "I'm sorry! I have to go join the Beavis and Butthead fellow in the lobby. I'll never get through this ceremony with a straight face with these two old Horn Birds cackling on and on."

"Mom! Can't you at least wait until Luke and I say our vows?"

"Leave her be, Lorelai," Richard advised. "I haven't seen your mother this happy in years and I'd like the feeling to last for as long as it possibly can, thank you."

"I don't blame you, Emily. If I could, I'd be joining you," Luke commented as Emily rose to exit the garden.

Luke's comment only made Emily laugh even harder as she scurried to get away from everyone as fast as she could.

"Hey, who was she calling two old Horn Birds?" Babette demanded angrily, suddenly getting Emily's dig of her and Miss Patty.

"Cluck! _Cluck_!" Gypsy answered, pointing at Babette.

"Hey, Miss Patty, you gonna let Lorelai's mother and Gypsy get away with insulting us like that?"

"Gypsy pointed at _you_, not me, Babette. And as for Emily's comment, she couldn't have possibly been talking about me. She said two _old_ Horn Birds and _I'm_ certainly not old."

"Um, we need to get going here," Rory commented. "Reverend Skinner, can you start the vows, please?"

"Oh, yeah – the vows. I'm sorry, I guess I was caught up in the entertainment. This reminds me of the time I took the missus to New York to see 'Tony and Tina's Wedding' on Broadway. That wedding had audience participation, too, but I would have to say this show is funnier by far."

"With all due respect, Reverend, this isn't a Broadway show and that isn't an audience, it's just a collection of mixed Stars Hollow nuts trying to screw up our wedding," Luke groused.

"Hey, that's funny, too," the reverend laughed. "Sorry, Luke! I'll get started."

Once Reverend Skinner began to proceed with the ceremony, the crowd settled down until Luke and Lorelai were officially presented as man and wife and then everyone broke out in thunderous applause and started high fiving each other.

The cocktails and hóurdourves started flowing in the garden almost immediately after the ceremony and Hep Alien began getting set up at the bandstand while Luke and Lorelai posed for their wedding photos. Rory started to walk over to the bandstand to join Lane when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see that it was Jess.

"Jess!" Rory gushed as she looked him up and down in his tuxedo, in her eyes, he was getting sexier by the second.

"Hey, Ror, you and I haven't had a chance to talk yet. Why don't we get away from the crowd for a while and go take a walk around the inn?"

"Okay," Rory replied, trying not to get her hopes up.

As Rory followed Jess through the lobby and out the front door, she wondered what he had in mind as he took her over to see his new car, a sleek black Mercedes. She was in awe as she stared at the vehicle, wondering how Jess had come by the means to acquire it.

"What's the matter, Gilmore?" Jess asked. "Not as nice a car as that 90210 reject that you dated at Yale drove?"

"Not really. This is actually nicer. Glad to see you still got some of your snarkiness, Mariano, I thought maybe your bad boy edge was gone for good."

"No, he's here when he needs to be. I just found out that I could get a lot further in life when I stopped acting like an asshole 24/7."

"Oh, wow, a kinder, gentler, Jess," Rory remarked blandly.

"What's the matter, Rory?" Jess murmured as he took her into his arms to kiss her. "You don't find the new me as sexy as the old Jess?"

"No, you're even sexier to me now," Rory admitted as she leaned in to kiss him again.

"And you're even more beautiful now than I remember. You look absolutely gorgeous. Want to go for a ride?"

"Now!? I don't think this is the time to be out joy riding. Later, maybe."

"Okay, how 'bout I come by tomorrow and pick you up for lunch?"

"That'll work."

"Okay, we'll do lunch then," Jess replied smiling. "Guess we should get back to the reception."

"I'd say it's a pretty good idea," Rory agreed as they walked back to the inn.

When they got back to the reception, they found the staff was already setting up the dinner buffet and the guests were starting to migrate to the tent to listen to Hep Alien's first number.

"There you two are!" Lorelai called out from across the garden. "We need you to take some pictures with us."

The photographer took a few more group shot photos and then finished up with one more photo of Luke and Lorelai.

"Are we ready to party, Stars Hollow?" Zach yelled out from the stage.

"Ready!" the crowd yelled back.

"Well, all right, then. Let's get the bride and groom over here for their first dance as man and wife!"

As Luke and Lorelai made their way to the dance floor, Hep Alien started playing "Baby I Love Your Way" by Peter Frampton. Since Lorelai had chosen the wedding song, she'd asked Luke to pick the first song they'd dance to and she was quite pleased with his choice of this sexy, love rock ballad as he twirled her around the floor and stared sensually into her eyes.

After they finished their dance, the crowd applauded and Sookie appeared on the stage to announce the buffet was ready and she invited the wedding party to be the first in line to take their food. As Luke followed behind Lorelai, he found her food choices puzzling as she selected more of the healthier items Sookie had prepared than the junk food she'd ordered for the wedding. It slowly began to dawn on him, as the evening wore on, that maybe Lorelai's new found healthy food cravings might be more than a coincidence. Later that night, when he found her with a third glass of wine in her hand, he took it away from her.

"Hey, what'd ya do that for?" Lorelai protested.

"Just a hunch I needed to," he replied softly as he pulled her onto his lap and pressed his cheek against hers, hoping his hunch was right. "What do you say we cut out of here?"

"Hey, it's still the lamb shank of the evening! You're no fun!" Lorelai pouted.

Luke leaned his head back to the side and lifted his eye brow in her direction sexily and she instantly caught his message.

"Oh, I was wrong. You are fun! And Dirty! Let's go upstairs, Butch Danes!"

"Don't call me Butch Danes!"

"I'll let you call me Muffin Cakes if you let me call you Butch!" she teased as she led him to the stage to say goodbye to their guests.

"Everyone, can I have your attention please? I just wanted to say that Luke and I would like to thank you all for coming to the inn to help us celebrate our wedding. We hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have. We're actually gonna take off now, but you're welcome to stay late and enjoy the rest of food and the music. Thanks again and good night every body!"

"Enjoy your sex!" Miss Patty called after them.

"We will!" Lorelai answered as they disappeared inside the inn.

The next morning, Luke let Lorelai sleep in while he ran some errands. When he came back at 9:30, he saw her still sleeping so he took off his shoes and crawled back into bed with her. A half hour later, Lorelai woke and saw him fully clothed, so she knew he'd already been up. Luke felt Lorelai stir so he awoke, too.

"Already sneaking around on me, are you, Butch?"

"Come here, I have some things for you and if you insist on having a pet name for me, please pick something else besides Butch."

"Okay, my widdle biddy Pickle Puss, what'd ya bring me?"

"Butch'll be better than that one," Luke sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Here!" he said to Lorelai as he shoved an early home pregnancy test in her hands.

"Why are you giving me this?" Lorelai questioned him, giving him an odd look.

"Do you remember what you had for dinner last night?"

"Yes! I had some red vines and some salad and some funny green stuff that looked like spinach that Sookie said was Dutch – no Swiss chard and some weird mushroom dish that I would normally never think about eating – oh my gosh, I'm pregnant!" Lorelai screamed.

"Why don't you go take the test and we can know for sure," Luke suggested.

Fifteen minutes later, Lorelai came out holding the stick showing a plus sign on it. "We're pregnant!" Lorelai cried out gleefully.

"Ah, honey, that's wonderful!" Luke responded as he lifted Lorelai up in the air and spun her around.

"I know, why don't we break the news to Rory over brunch? And not here at the inn, let's go some place else."

"Okay, sounds like a plan! I'm gonna go get ready while you call her."

"Hello?"

"Good morning, sweets."

"Good morning Mrs. Butch Danes."

"Ohhh – I am so going to get you for that one and your stepfather, too, if I find out that he put you up to that."

"It feels good to hear you call him my stepfather."

"It does sound good, doesn't it, hon? Know what else sounds good?"

"What?"

"If you join me and him for brunch today since you'll be leaving tomorrow."

"Well, Mom, I – "

"Already have plans with Jess?"

"I usually wouldn't want to stop you from doing something you already planned, but this is important to me and Luke. If you want to ask Jess to come along, feel free, he's your step cousin now."

"Eww! Why'd you have to put it like that?"

"Gotta have something to hold over your head, sweetie," Lorelai laughed. "Anyway, see if you can get him to come and I'll find some reason for Luke and me to duck out early."

"Okay. Where are we meeting?"

"Come to the inn about 11:30 and we'll go some place else. I love it here, but I've been cooped up in this place since 9:30 yesterday morning and I need to get away from it from for a while."

"You call Rory?" Luke asked as he emerged from the shower.

"Yeah, hon. She'll be here at 11:30. She's gonna try to get Jess to come, too… Some things… Some things… Hey! You told me earlier when I woke up that you had some _things_ to give me. What else was there?"

"Oh, yeah! Here!"Luke said as he handed her a real estate magazine. I want you to go through here and pick out the house you like. I don't care what it costs; just make sure it has at least four bedrooms."

"Four bedrooms? Luke, I'm happy we're having a baby, but you want me to give you _three_ children?"

"One for us, one for the baby, one for April and one for Rory."

"Okay, but why don't you care what it costs?"

"Come here," he said as he took her by the hand and led her to the window seat.

"Uh-oh, this is a window seat talk, this is serious."

"Yeah, but in a good way. Do you remember that 'deal' I kept bringing up to Taylor the day him and the other lunatics came over to your house for that stupid bet?"

"Yeah, and you got him to back off every time you'd say 'the deal, Taylor', that was great!"

"Well, the 'deal' I made with him was to sell him the building next door to the diner, where his soda shop is. I closed the deal with him on Wednesday for 2.2 million dollars."

"Taylor offered you that much for _that_ building? Did he find some bubblin' crude under his ice cream freezer?" Lorelai asked incredulously.

"He seems to think that it's a good location and that he can make a fortune on it in a few years because of this hot real estate market. What he's too stupid to realize is that we're in a bubble and it's about to burst. He did me a favor by making the offer, but I had to make sure he was gonna suffer before I accepted his offer 'cause that what Taylor deserves."

"Wow! You mean we could have a house better than my mother's and I can make her feel like a big fat nothing when she comes to visit us?"

"Yes, if that's what you want."

"Wow! Babette is right. We _are_ like the Rhett Butler and Scarlett of Stars Hollow. Except… I guess they didn't have such a happy ending."

"That'll never be us," Luke reassured her.

"Yeah! Definitely not us," Lorelai agreed. "I'm gonna go get dressed now and then we can go downstairs and meet Rory and hopefully, Jess, too."

As Luke and Lorelai descended the stairs, they found Rory and Jess already waiting for them in the lobby.

"Hey guys!" Lorelai called out cheerfully.

"Hi, Mom and Luke! Congratulations you two! I'm so happy you're married now," Rory said as she rose to hug them both.

"Well, we're happy you both could make it down here on such short notice. Luke and I wanted to take you out for brunch since you're both leaving tomorrow and we're up for suggestions. Any place you want to go. Just name it."

"You're pregnant," Jess stated matter-of-factly.

"'You're Pregnant', I think I heard about that place the other day, but I don't wanna go to a restaurant that puts breast milk in its coffee."

"Mom! Are you?" Rory asked excitedly.

"Yes!" Lorelai replied, nodding her head excitedly.

"Omigosh! Omigosh!" Rory cried out, rising to hug her mother.

"Congratulations, Luke," Jess said, extending his hand.

"Jess, how did you know?" Rory asked.

"Your mother was eating vegetables at the wedding like they were going out of style. The whole time I was working at Luke's, I never saw her consume anything from the fourth food group except French fries."

"That means the baby's gonna take after Luke," Rory noted, remembering the conversation she had with her mother.

"I guess that explains why I'm craving a spinach omelet instead of pancakes, which I would so much be craving if it weren't for Luke's spawn hijacking my body to make me eat yucky tasting health food."

"I had to find some way to make you break your disgusting junk food habit. Come on everybody, I know a good place we can go for brunch and celebrate."

"Where?" Lorelai asked.

"It's a surprise," Luke replied. "Follow me," Luke instructed Jess.

A few minutes later, they all pulled in to the parking lot of Sniffy's Tavern, the place where Luke and Lorelai had their first date.

"Sniffy's Tavern?" Rory giggled. "Oooh! It's good to be back in Stars Hollow. No place in the world makes me laugh as much as this place does."

"Used to be a whore house," Jess commented.

"Sniffy is a whore? Oh my gosh, that conjures up some majorly gross imagery."

"Sniffy is a dog."

"Considering what dogs like to sniff, I don't think the gross factor is going to go away."

"Don't worry, Sniffy bit the dust a long time ago."

"Awww… Sniffy died?"

"Yep! You can read all about it on the back of the menu," Jess replied as he helped Rory out of his car.

"Hey, Mom, did you know Sniffy was a dog and that he died?"

"Yeah, hon, I heard the bad news when Luke and I came here for our first date."

"Luke took you to a whore house on your first date?"

"This place hasn't been a whore house in a hundred years if it ever even was one," Luke snapped.

"Oh yeah, how come you made me turn tricks in the parking lot, then?"

"I didn't make you … probably because I was short on cash and needed money to pay the bill."

"You did not. The meal was on the house."

"Your meal was free?" Rory asked.

"Yep. Luke's friends, Bud and Maisey from the wedding, are the owners of Sniffy's Tavern."

"Really? Oh, I like them."

"Shall we?" Luke asked as he motioned towards the entrance.

"On to the whore house!" Lorelai replied.

"Well, look, Bud, here's the bride and groom," Maisey beamed when she saw them walking in the front door.

"Hey, Luke! I got a nice booth back in the corner for you all," he said as he led them to their table, with Maisey following along.

"Is this all right, Luke?" Bud asked.

"It's fine, Bud, thank you," Luke answered.

"That was sure a hell of a wedding you all threw, I don't think I've ever been to one quite that nice, but I gotta tell ya – some of your friends that were there were just plum crazy," Maisey commented.

"Come on, Maisey, this is Stars Hollow, you know how the people are in this town. If we'd limited the list to normal people, we could have only invited you and Bud and Lorelai's parents," Luke replied.

"You'd still have to shorten that list; I wouldn't exactly call my parents normal. Sure, they live in Hartford, but they would definitely fit in well with the rest of the kooky peeps who walk Stars Hollow's streets."

"Well, Luke, what are you all doing here today? Maisey and I thought for sure you and Lorelai would have booked yourself a nice honeymoon. Don't you let Luke get away with being a cheapskate, Lorelai. This fella's been socking it away for years so he should be able to give you anything you want."

"Oh, I could never accuse Luke of being stingy; even if he didn't have a penny, he'd still be the most generous man I've ever known in my life. We just planned our wedding on such short notice that it was hard to get away since we both have our own businesses."

"We know what that's like," Maisey agreed. "It must be extra difficult when you have two businesses to juggle."

"Well, we're sorry you couldn't get away for a honeymoon, but what do you say we bring you four Sniffy's Brunches to try and make up for it?"

"Sounds good, Bud, thanks!" Luke replied.

"Eww," Rory complained after Bud and Maisey walked away, "I don't want the Sniffy's Brunch, it sounds too much like we're gonna be eating dog food."

"You never complained about the Alpo Luke puts in his chili," Lorelai quipped.

"That's because I only put it in _your_ chili. You'll _like_ the Sniffy Brunch," Luke assured her."

About fifteen minutes later, plates piled high with Swiss cheese bacon frittatas and rosemary hash browns, dishes of fruit salads, a basket of freshly baked biscuits and glasses of mimosas arrived for every body. Lorelai slid her mimosa over to Rory and started eating her fruit salad. A few minutes later, Maisey came over and noticed Lorelai had barely touched the rest of her food.

"Can I bring you something else, honey? That husband of mine gets carried away sometimes and doesn't stop to think about what other people like to eat."

"Oh, Maisey, it looks fantastic, but my appetite has taken a turn for the bizarre since I've gotten pregnant."

"Good Lord, you're pregnant? Why didn't you say something before? Bud, get over here!"

"What is it Maisey?"

"Luke and Lorelai are gonna have a baby!"

"You don't say! Seems like only yesterday they were here having their first date. Well, what you do say about that? Congratulations!"

"Bud, can you bring Lorelai something else to eat? The frittata ain't agreeing with her appetite too well."

"Sure I can, it'd be my pleasure. What would you like, sweetie?"

"Umm… a spinach omelet if it's not too much trouble," Lorelai answered gratefully.

"You got it and let me get everyone a celebratory drink while I'm at it."

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Bud, our mimosas are fine," Rory replied as she stared at her two mimosas, wondering how she was going to finish those, let alone another drink.

"Nah, you can't use a drink like a sissy mimosa to celebrate a momentous occasion like this. Ever had a Sea Breeze cocktail?"

"No."

"Well, I'll bring you one of those and you can tell me if you like it. Now you look like a vodka tonic man," he said pointing at Jess.

"Damn straight," Jess replied.

"Luke, I know you like your beer and what can I bring Lorelai … mmm, do you think you can handle a virgin daiquiri?"

"Well, I haven't handled a virgin in a while, but I promise to be gentle."

"Listen, do you hear that?" Luke asked, cupping his hand to his ear."

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"I just heard the baby booing your virgin joke."

"It's bad enough Baby makes me eat vegetables, I won't tolerate it heckling me, too."

"Well, he can't help it if he has a better sense of humor than his mother," Luke replied.

"Aww, I hope it _is_ a little boy. A little baby Luke would be so cute," Rory cooed.

"He'd better be cute or I'm sending him back," Lorelai quipped.

After they finished eating, Luke wandered up to the bar to chat with Bud and Rory excused herself to go to the ladies room, leaving Lorelai to be alone with Jess. Lorelai wondered how this would go, in the past, her one-on-one times with Jess had ranged between awkwardness and contentiousness. Before she could contemplate this any further, Jess started to speak.

"I think this is a good thing."

"What is, hon?"

"You and Luke finally getting married, but if you ask me, Luke was a bit of a jerk waiting so long to do it."

"Well … no, I wasn't asking you, but I'd say I contributed my fair share of jerkiness to the relationship."

"I'm just saying I'm not willing to wait twelve years to make someone mine."

"And would that 'someone' you're referring to be Rory?"

"You know it is."

"Uh … well, okay, I just wanted to make sure we weren't talking about Britney Spears."

"Look, Lorelai, I know we've had a rocky past, but I'd like that to change. I learned a lot about life when I went to stay with my old man in California. He treated his dogs better than he did me and that's when I figured out that's how I'd been treating people in my life, too; people that mattered, people who cared about me. It was a valuable lesson for me."

"Well, your mother always tells me how much you remind her of her father. Unfortunately, I never got to meet Luke's dad, but from all the wonderful things I've heard about him from Liz and Luke and the town's people, I'd say you took after a pretty good man."

"I'm looking forward to Rory coming to Philly next week, I know that much."

"You aren't planning on doing anything crazy like asking her to quit her job, are you?"

"Oh, no, I'd probably lose her for good if I did that, but I _am_ going to ask her to marry me and if she says yes, we can get married after she finishes up with the campaign and if she wants to, she can come work for my company. We're doing pretty well now."

"So, I've noticed, you're driving a very nice car these days."

"Thanks."

"Well, I'd say the teenaged Jess was pretty rotten, but you've grown up into a man I'd be proud to call my son-in-law. Out of all the guys Rory dated, you seem to know the real Rory the most. Plus, you seem to like to know what you like, like your uncle Luke, and you're willing to hang in there for it. Not like Dean, who'd get angry and run away. And that other guy, Baby Warbucks, asked Rory to marry him, but I'm glad she turned him down 'cause he looked like the type who would have started screwing around on her in about six months."

"Stupid, rich bastard," Jess muttered.

"Now, now," Lorelai teased, "you're about a minute away from being a rich bastard yourself."

"Yeah, but I worked hard for every bit of it. It wasn't just handed to me like it was to him. That's why I appreciate everything I have. That's why I would appreciate Rory and would never take her for granted."

"I know you wouldn't, hon. Well, let me go get Luke, I promised Rory I wouldn't take up too much of her time today."

"Hey!" Jess called out as she started to walk away from the table.

"Yes?"

"I'd be proud, too."

"Proud?"

"Proud to call you my mother-in-law."

"Thanks, Jess," Lorelai replied before she pivoted to head to the bar.

After Luke and Lorelai said their goodbyes to Rory and Jess, they lingered for a little while longer at the bar.

"What are you smiling about?" Luke asked.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how my life is suddenly one great, big beautiful fairy tale and I'm hoping my carriage doesn't turn into a pumpkin at midnight."

"Well, if that should ever happen, I'll be the one holding your glass slipper."

"My prince!" Lorelai replied, kissing him like she'd never kissed him before.

**THE END**


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